The Silent Paw and The Gentle Bark

🐾 Chapter 42: The Worst Nightmare Yet

WARNING ⚠ THIS MAYBE BE A BIT DISTURBING BIT OF BLOOD AND GORE

Catnap didn't want to sleep.

He knew what would happen if he did.

But exhaustion weighed down on him, pulling at his body, dragging him into the darkness. No matter how hard he fought it, no matter how tightly he clung to Dogday beside him, his eyelids grew heavier...

Until he fell.

The factory was wrong this time.

Twisted. Corrupted.

The walls were made of flesh, pulsing like they were alive. Thick, black sludge oozed from the cracks, dripping onto the rusted metal floor. The air smelled of blood, burnt fur, and something sickeningly sweet—like rotten meat.

And in the distance—

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

That sound again.

Catnap's breath hitched. His ears flattened.

No.

Not again.

"DOGDAY!" he yelled, his voice bouncing off the endless halls. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Silence.

Then—

A sound.

A slow, agonizing dragging.

Catnap turned the corner—

And froze.

Dogday was there.

Or at least... what was left.

He was suspended in the air by thick, black wires, skewered through his limbs like a puppet. His fur was peeled away in patches, exposing raw muscle and bone. His jaw hung open at an unnatural angle, his once-bright blue eyes ripped from their sockets, leaving behind empty, bleeding voids.

And then—

His body twitched.

Catnap's breath hitched. "Dogday?"

A deep, inhuman gurgle crawled from Dogday's throat. His mouth stretched into a grotesque, unnatural grin.

"Caaaaatnaaaap..."

The voice that came out wasn't his.

It was something else.

Something wrong.

Dogday lurched, his broken body jerking violently. The wires yanked him forward, dragging his limp legs across the floor as if something unseen was controlling him.

"Run," he choked out, voice distorted and wet. "It's... inside me..."

Catnap stepped forward, desperate. "NO! I—"

Dogday screamed.

It was inhuman.

The walls split open, revealing endless rows of jagged teeth. The black sludge exploded outward, crawling up Dogday's body, forcing itself inside him.

His body convulsed. His limbs snapped backward with sickening cracks. His stomach split open, intestines pouring onto the floor like discarded stuffing from a torn toy. His broken mouth twitched—

Then he laughed.

A horrible, wet, choking laugh.

"He's mine now."

The Prototype's voice rumbled through the walls, through Dogday's body, twisting his once-lovable face into something out of a nightmare.

"NO!" Catnap lunged, trying to grab him—

Dogday's arms snapped off in his hands.

He ripped apart like a rotten doll.

Blood.

Everywhere.

The factory collapsed, the floor beneath Catnap giving way, sending him falling—

🐾 Catnap woke up screaming.

He shot up, his breath ragged, his throat raw from the force of his own cries. His entire body was soaked in sweat, his fur damp, his paws trembling uncontrollably.

"Whoa—HEY!"

Dogday sat up fast, his hands gripping Catnap's shoulders. "Catnap—what the hell?! What's wrong?!"

Catnap couldn't speak.

He could still see it. The blood. The way Dogday's body had torn apart in his hands. The sick, twisted grin. The voice that wasn't his.

"Hey, hey—look at me," Dogday said, softer now. His paws gently cupped Catnap's face, forcing him to focus. "I'm right here. I'm real."

Catnap's breathing was uneven. His heartbeat was so fast it hurt.

"I saw you die..." he choked out. "I—I tried to stop it, but—"

Dogday hushed him immediately, pulling him in. "I'm fine," he whispered against Catnap's fur. "I'm here. It was just a dream."

Catnap clung to him.

But deep down, he knew the truth.

This wasn't just a dream.

Something was wrong.

Something was coming.

And next time?

It might not be a nightmare at all.